LING 333 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3.3: Thermometer
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In the magnitude estimation (me) task, participants are given a reference sentence and told that the acceptability of the reference sentence is a speci c numerical value (e. g. , 100). The reference sentence is called the standard and the value it is assigned is called the modulus. Participants are then asked to rate additional sentences as a proportion of the value of the standard. In the me task, the standard is meant to act as a unit of measure for all of the other sentences in the experiment. Theoretical possibility of substantially more accurate ratings because of the intervals between sentences can be expressed as proportions of the standard. As a numerical task, an me experiment requires the same design properties as an ls task. In order to prevent certain types of response strategies, it"s normal practice to employ a standard that is in the middle range of acceptability.
